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Block Feeding Description

I think it would be good for newbie's and this oldie to get a good clear description of block feeding! I think I am wrong with what I think it is. !

TIA!

And maybe after that we could keep going and use this forum to describe other breastfeeding terms.... just a thought!

Kelly

Mommy to Gabriel born 12/25/06 Breastfed 12/25/06 - 12/09 and possibly here and there still
Madelyn born 9/24/09 delivered at home and caught by my husband "To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right."

Re: Block Feeding Description

Okay so I will give my feeling on what block feeding it:

Continuously going to one breast for a long period of time in order to fully drain that breast.

Right? Wrong? Different?

Kelly

Mommy to Gabriel born 12/25/06 Breastfed 12/25/06 - 12/09 and possibly here and there still
Madelyn born 9/24/09 delivered at home and caught by my husband "To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right."

Re: Block Feeding Description

kellymom.com says

block feeding is nursing off the same side for a couple of feedings and then switching to the other side.

* Start with 2-3 hours and increase in half-hour increments if needed.
* Do not restrict nursing at all, but any time that baby needs to nurse simply keep putting baby back to the same side during that time period.
* If the second side becomes uncomfortable, express a little milk until you're more comfortable and then use cool compresses - aim for expressing less milk each time until you are comfortable without expressing milk.
* In more extreme cases, mom may need to experiment a bit with time periods over 4 hours to find the amount of time per breast that works best.

not sure if that helps any, but that is what i found.
oh, and something else too, i guess it pretty much says the same thing:

Block Nursing
If your baby seems to need to nurse all the time, has frequent watery or green stools, seems excessively gassy or pulls off at the beginning of feeds, has lots of audible gulps as if unable to keep up, or if you seem to leak large amounts of milk between feedings it could be that you have a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance. This is generally caused or aggravated by certain nursing habits or oversupply.

In a two to two and a half hour period try feeding your baby from only one breast no matter how many times he wants to feed. This will help ensure that he has totally emptied your breast and gotten the right amount of hind milk. This will help provide him with the same number of calories that he was getting with a smaller volume of food in his tummy and he may need to feed less often.

During this trial be sure your baby is gaining weight and has the correct number of wet diapers for his age. A Board Certified Lactation Consultant can help you verify if block nursing is right for your situation. See When to Seek Help from a Lactation Consultant for more information. To find a Lactation Consultant in your area you can contact www.ILCA.org. For more information on breastfeeding see www.lalecheleague.org and www.kellymom.com.

I'm Heather, SAHM to Cooper, born 1/2007
and Bennett, our precious NICU grad born 8/2009
and wife to Bill since 10/2003!
We're young, but we know we can do it!Life with the Stevens-blog

Re: Block Feeding Description

I thought milk was produced continuously and the breast was never empty . Yeah.....I'm a newbie

This is why I wanted to start this thread! I remember being confused at a lot of the terms (and still am apparantly still so)

Why don't we keep the terms going?

Kelly

Mommy to Gabriel born 12/25/06 Breastfed 12/25/06 - 12/09 and possibly here and there still
Madelyn born 9/24/09 delivered at home and caught by my husband "To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right."

Re: Block Feeding Description

while it is true that the breast is never empty, it is important for the baby to properly drain the hindmilk (the fatty milk) from the breast before starting the second breast.

quote from kellymom

Your breasts don't "flip a switch" at some arbitrary point and start producing hindmilk instead of foremilk. Instead, think of the beginning of a nursing session as being like turning on a hot water faucet.

The first water you get out of the tap isn't usually hot, but cold. As the water runs, it gradually gets warmer and warmer and warmer. This is what happens with the fat content in mom's milk - moms's milk gradually increases in fat content until the end of the feeding.

Now think about the hot water faucet again. If there is a long period of time before the faucet is used again, then you go through the "cold to hot" process once more, but if you turn the water on fairly soon after it was used then the water is either pretty warm or still hot, depending upon how long it's been since the faucet was last on.

This is how it works with mother's milk too - the longer the time between feedings, the lower the fat content at the beginning of the next feeding. If feedings are closer together, you're starting off with a higher fat content.

Personally, I did not time my block feeding, but rather counted the number of nursing sessions per side. For example, I would feed for 3 times on one breast and then 3 on the other . . . Whatever works for you But the point of block feeding is so that the breast that is NOT in use signals the body to slow down production in that breast, because it is not being drained. When you switch sides, the opposite breast signals the body to slow down production in that breast - and so the cycle continues. HTH

ETA: fwiw, I am still block feeding. I am nursing on one breast per nursing session. ds2 was 6 months yesterday. It works for us, especially because he has reflux and feeding him smaller amounts more frequently is easier on him

Last edited by @llli*sch.mommy; September 21st, 2008 at 06:14 PM.

~Jenn~

mother of 2 boys!08/14/98~~03/20/08Birth: 7lbs 12oz, 1 year: 22lbs 11oz until he self-weaned 4 days before his third birthday ... still on occasion ... and happily ************************************************** ************************************************** *****************People need to understand that when they're deciding between breastmilk and formula, they're not deciding between Coke and Pepsi.... They're choosing between a live, pure substance and a dead substance made with the cheapest oils available. ~Chele Marmet